So what is Spirituality?

When you witness the presence of a Bhikuni (Buddhist nun) in the same room as you, don’t you simply observe the alien existence and the different world the spiritual being comes from and feel no evident connection? Or do you actually look for a reason to relate to him or her…

For as I recall several years ago whilst impatiently waiting in a ‘very’ slowly moving queue at the French Consulate lounge, there were a dozen monks from the land of Dhamma - Burma, clad in dark wine coloured cotton robes nervously awaiting their turn to gain entry into France. For my curious eyes, their team only confused me and I wondered what type revolution they hoped to create amongst the French citizens in their bizarre appearances.

That was then.

Until, Vipassana engulfed me and I used it as a weapon to fight internal and external misery. A bloodless, non-violent, peaceful fight with the concept of Dhamma as my army and Anichya as my oath.

I faithfully believed and returned to the meditation centre which had cured me, and through a tough, distracted period of the course I noticed a German Bhikunni seated two rows away from my position.

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The days went on until the vow of silence was broken and I heard myself say to a fellow meditator, “we got lucky to have Bhikuni meditate beside us. What wonderful holy energy!”

And then you wonder again. Our conditioned minds only understand , believe and relate to what we experience. Our consoling, commonly used words, “I understand…” are so often used without much meaning. No we do not understand, we will not… until experienced.

So once again. What IS spirituality? Each man follows his own ideas and beliefs, at times in a group, a class, a race, a caste…and at times in the mighty size of a nation. It is impossible to witness every spiritual technique. Because the term is so vast and modified through the years.

Just as impossible as it seemed for me to categorize my first blog on this website. For coming from a pious Sunday mass regularly visiting Roman Catholic family - turned simultaneously a Vipassana meditator - yet having a strong interest in worldly possessions and positions - whilst on a permanent and difficult road to self-improvement - intensely mesmerised by the philosophy of life, or more like lives… I’m left impossibly confused when people I meet refer to me as spiritual. For we are aware we are not the same being with all, so this probably could mean I show a different spiritual side of me to different individuals. That goes down to the possibility that ‘every’ individual possesses a spiritual side to him.

An artist kisses the stage he/she is about to perform on, a writer may worship the pen, hindu’s consider the cow sacred, South Indians ask for blessings from a black stone, a lover may worship his partner’s body at an ecstatic moment of pleasure, while an obsessive one may worship the partner itself…a simple German born Eckhart Tolle who discovered light within himself seconds before he was about to turn out his lights due to great misery and depression, went on to teach the world ‘the power of NOW’ and his readers to date praise his ‘spiritual’ works ever since.

So who knows what spirituality is, or who is ‘not’ a spiritual being and what is the correct type of spiritual technique to follow. What we do know is we desire happiness and peace. We understand superficially that spirituality may lead us there. We hope to find the right technique(s) to redeem ourselves, that is if we do not believe we have found it/them already.

I am spiritual, I do not ask me what I follow, or what I am writing about so only the believers of a particular department can visit my blog. For despite all the differences and varied opinions, there is one common technique we all follow… the belief in the ‘ME’. We may change our faith but not our self – belief.